Articles and comments by Fadi Zanayed, a Moderate Palestinian, about the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

Saturday, August 25, 2012

No Talking Endlessly

A Facebook member contacted me with the following message: hello---can
you say something about achieving peace both for Israel/Palestinians and over
all area -- or are you just anti-Israel? I see you are educated…. so you should
be working for a solution

My reply:

I am not anti-Israel. I was one of the first Palestinians to call
for the recognition of Israel. In1980 I
championed the recognition of Israel at college campuses and within the
Palestinian community in Chicago. I attended the White House Rose Garden peace
signing ceremony on September 13, 1993 and witnessed the famous handshake
between Rabin and Arafat.

I have always been and continue to be an advocate for peace. Yet, I like many peace-loving Palestinians
have become disillusioned by Israel's constant talking but not really
talking. They want to talk but never
conclude the "talks" and all the while they want to illegally confiscate more
Palestinian land and build more illegal settlements and transfer more hard core
machine gun taunting settlers into these settlements. Their justification for this is that the
Palestinians have given up Area C in the Oslo Agreement. This is hogwash.

They cut down our olive groves and then Israeli
supporters justify this by saying that "terrorists" hide in the
trees. This is hogwash.

When I ask Israeli's to explain the discrepancy
between laws that differently effect Palestinians and Israelis and how they cannot call
Israel an apartheid state, they have no explanations. They have no explanation
for Jewish only roads; no explanation for colored license plates for
Palestinians; no explanation for a wall that divides farmers from their farm
land; no explanation for surrounding towns with barred wires and checkpoints
out of those towns that allow residence ingress and egress at only certain
times of the day. In one such town, an elementary school is outside the wall and the guards at the 3pm crossing when
children are released from their school purposefully choose to not open the gates
leaving the children alone to wait until the evening crossing before they can return
to their families and homes. This is a direct policy that builds frustration
and hatred and ultimately aims to continue the status quo--occupation.

No one can explain to me that why Israel always
asks the Palestinians to return to the "negotiating table" when
Israeli soldiers carry out a direct and humiliating policy to destroy the human
will of the Palestinians. No one asks
the Israelis why their leaders continue to frustrate and subjugate Palestinians
into complacency. No one asks Israel to
stop its policy to dehumanize Palestinians and establish a policy to build an
atmosphere of confidence in the future.

The future is in numbers. Peace will be established
when Israel realizes that the will of the Palestinians people cannot be
destroyed; that they cannot continue their apartheid practices especially when
in 2016 it is expected that the population in Palestine and Israel will be such
that Israelis are the minority.

The problem with a lack of peace is that the
Israeli political system gives too much power to its minority parties. In all the 64 year history of Israel, there
has been only one Israeli government that had a majority in its Knesset. All the other Israeli governments have been
run by coalition governments that are beholden to right wing minority parties
that do not want peace because these parties wield the ongoing threat to switch
their allegiance in the Knesset in a no confidence vote thus bringing down the
ruling party. (See my article Soul Searching Leads to Peace

http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2011/12/soul-searching-leads-to-peace.htmlwhich explains how the Israeli political system is a hindrance to peace. ) The only way for peace to be achieved is through a
One State Solution. It is not an impossibility. South Africa has proven that. Despite the
decades of White Rule in South Africa the Black population, through the heroic
efforts of Nelson Mandela, reconciliation between the people of South Africa,
thought to be unattainable, was achieved successfully. Recompilation can be achieved in the Holy Land.

I still have hope for peace. I will always have
hope for peace. I want to live with
Jews, Muslims and Christians in prosperity in the Holy Land. I want to work for a solution but I cannot
and will not talk for the sake of talk if it will lead to a never ending talks.

About Me

Fadi Zanayed is an author, poet, community activist and an attorney since 1985. A graduate from Loyola University with a B.S. in Managerial Accounting and a minor in Political Science in 1983, he received his law degree from Loyola School of Law in 1985. A Palestinian American whose family originates from Ramallah, Palestine, Fadi Zanayed is an active and proud member of the Arab American community with a long history of community leadership and service. They include: Founding Member of Arab-American Bar Association of Illinois, Inc.; Former Regional Director & Past President, Chicago Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee; Past President of the Chicago Chapter of the Palestinian American Congress; Past National Secretary of the Palestinian American Congress; Past President of the Chicago Club of Ramallah, Palestine; Past Member of the Board of the American Federation of Ramallah, Palestine; Past President of the American Youth Federation of Ramallah, Palestine. He is the author of Cycle of Frustration: A collection of poems about Palestine; and Betrayal, Sorrow and Tomorrow (pen name: Chris F. Wollinks).